By RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press Writer

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Gov. Jeb Bush signed Florida's elections reform package Wednesday in the county that was ground zero in the disputed presidential election eventually won by his brother.

The governor completed the ceremonial bill signing surrounded by faces familiar from the drawn-out election battle, including Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris  and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, designer of the ``butterfly ballot'' that some Democrats said was so confusing that it cost Democrat Al Gore  thousands of votes.

``From the confusion of the election, we have built a system that will be the envy of the nation,'' Bush said.

The actual bill will be signed later, but Bush didn't wait to organize separate ceremonies Wednesday in Palm Beach and Volusia counties.

Both were among four counties where Gore asked for recounts after the Nov. 7 vote. Both counties voted for Gore over Bush's brother, George W. Bush, who won the presidency after the U.S. Supreme Court  ended the protracted recount in Florida on Dec. 12.

Coincidentally, Gore made his first visit to Florida since the election Wednesday, speaking to a travel group in Orlando.

State lawmakers passed the reform bill Friday, approving a $32 million package designed to prevent a repeat of the recount debacle.

The measure will eliminate punchcard and hand-counted paper ballots, with their hanging chads and dimples, and mechanical-lever voting. All precincts will be required to have optical-scan ballot systems in place for the 2002 fall election.

Bush promised that Florida would no longer be seen as a joke at election time.

``For a period of time Florida was made the laughingstock of late-night television,'' he said. ``Now I can proudly that say we saw some of the problems that existed and in a bipartisan way we pulled together.''

Harris added: ``Never again will there be a hanging, dangling or pregnant chad in the state of Florida.''

LePore, who received heavy criticism during the recount, said the reform package was a relief. She is a newly registered Independent, saying she dropped her Democratic Party affiliation in part because of the way Democrats treated her after the election.